Queen in Channel Islands to mark liberation from Nazis

The Queen travelled to the Channel Islands yesterday, the only part of her realm occupied by the Germans during the second world war, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of their liberation.

She attended a liberation day service and met island survivors of the occupation on Guernsey before flying on, with the Duke of Edinburgh, to Jersey to unveil a seafront commemorative sculpture, attend a children's tea party and watch a fireworks display.

The Queen, who as a teenager on VE night slipped out of Buckingham Palace with her sister to mingle anonymously with the crowds of revellers, was absent from the muted weekend commemorations in London.

She will be making amends to the veterans who grumbled about the low-key ceremonial by attending a commemorative service to mark the end of the second world war, at Westminster Abbey on July 10.

This is a date apparently chosen as a convenient midway point between the end of hostilities in Europe and those in Japan.

But yesterday's commemorations in Guernsey and Jersey could not be missed.

The royal family, which before the war had visited the islands only rarely, has been back relatively frequently ever since. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited Jersey a month after its liberation. The Queen's last visit was only four years ago.

The Channel Islands were occupied by the Germans in July 1940 but, despite the liberation of most of France in 1944, were not finally freed until May 9 1945, the day after the surrender of the German armies in Europe.

By that time 2,000 islanders, including the small Jewish population, had been deported to concentration camps, from which some did not return.

Yesterday was an occasion for reviving memories. Moira Newman, who lived through the occupation in St Helier, told reporters: "Flags and bunting appeared as if by magic - a turnabout from the beginning of the occupation when we had hung white pillow slips from the windows as a sign of surrender."

Another survivor, Barbara Journeaux, a schoolgirl at the time, said: "I remember the German soldiers queueing up along the roads outside the school and they threw knives and other personal possessions into the hedges and fields."

Herbert Morrison, the home secretary who visited Jersey a week after the liberation, told the Commons: "The liberation came like the awakening from a nightmare."

Memories about the degree of collaboration on the islands remain raw and sensitive to this day.